Congratulations, Sparky!

I'm sorry, vw.

Wow, this is a great day to have a head cold. I can watch a TDS rerun and hang out on b.org. And take lots and lots of drugs. Yum, phenylephrine-errific!

And thanks for the welcome-back, y'all. Senegal was amazing. I got to watch the fishing boats leave and come back from my hotel room every day. People were very kind in working with my minimal French. Dakar markets are amazing, especially the day before a major festival. The ICASA conference (a big meeting about AIDS in Africa) was good, and people seemed really interested in my organization. We do health care capacity building, which is very "in" right now. And I got to shake hands with the Princess of Belgium, which was delightfully random.

whoo, Sparky and Sparky-kin!

Also a fair way to phrase it, Trudy.

A very energetic child might be able to pull off "Shazam" or "Zoom" as a nickname. And the right type of off-center child might -- might -- be able to pull one of them off as a middle name. As a first name, no -- unless you want to enter Moon Unit Zappa territory.

Yay! A little spark is on the way!

It sounds so cool, Calli.

(Edited because "I sounds so cool" is an entirely different sentiment, and also written in lol cat.)

Calli, that sounds just fantastic. Please tell me you took lots and lots of pictures that we're going to get to see?

Babyfras' middle name will be my last name. My husband's last name is Abramson, so when he suggested Zoom, I countered with the fact that if we were going to name the kid a noise, then we might as well call him/her "Oy!" since we'd probably be using it anyway, as in, "Oy! Who's the cutest?" and (more likely) "Oy! Look at this mess!"

I hadn't even thought of that!

Good god, don't give her ideas.

Buffista babies make me happy, except for the fact that they seem to grow faster than the speed of light.

Sparky! Congratulations to infinity. How wonderful for you. And for Sassafras getting a babyfras.

You gotta come down for brunch/lunch whatever and bring the pooch. We'll giggle and talk about baby-prepping her...though you probably have all that info...I just want to chat with YOU!

if we were going to name the kid a noise, then we might as well call him/her "Oy!" since we'd probably be using it anyway, as in, "Oy! Who's the cutest?" and (more likely) "Oy! Look at this mess!"

This is cracking me all the way up. And I have to confess that Zoom seems like the coolest name, nick or otherwise. This child will have as agile a mind as s/he will have an agile frame. So it totally fits!

oh, vw, I'm sorry it didn't work out.

And, I said it in Natter but it bears repeating, YAY FOR THE SPARKY BABY!!!!

I love the name Shazam. But I don't know if it works with Abramson. That would be a mouthful. hee!

Congrats, Sparky!

I went to Student Health. They gave me slightly better drugs, and a referral so I can go see my rheumatologist.

The saddest part may be that the whole free-for-all obscured a legitimate question. Namely, "How can we reconcile my security needs with the religious requirements of my neighbor and his friends?"

That one's easy. If the neighbors have more than one person in their family, they assign someone to wait for the guests in the lobby. If it's just one person, then he or she goes down to the lobby at the time when the guests are supposed to arrive to let them in. It's what pretty much everybody in that situation does. It's not like there has never been a religious family living in a building without a doorman before.

Also, the commenters seemed to be assuming that these were black-hat Orthodox. If there's only the one Orthodox family living in the building, then it's a fairly good chance they're not black-hat.